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Uproar Over Dissident Rattles Saudi Royal Family

The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, left, with Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, center, and King Salman. The royal family consists of thousands of descendants of the king who founded the country.Credit...Bandar Algaloud/Saudi Royal Council, via Getty Images

BEIRUT, Lebanon — As international outrage grew at Saudi Arabia over the apparent killing of the Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, an alarmed King Salman dispatched a senior royal to address the matter with Turkey’s president.

[Update: Three senior members of the Saudi royal family are arrested.]

Prince Khalid al-Faisal returned home from Ankara with a bleak message for the royal family. “It is really difficult to get out of this one,” Prince Khalid told relatives after his return, one of those family members recalled this week. “He was really disturbed by it.”

Saudi Arabia is facing perhaps its greatest international crisis since the revelation that its citizens planned and carried out the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Members of the ruling family are increasingly worried about the direction of the country under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 33-year-old favorite son of King Salman and the kingdom’s day-to-day ruler.

But unlike 2001, when the royal family came together to protect its collective interests, this time that may not be possible. Instead, there is deep concern, as royals search, so far in vain, for a way to contain the crown prince, who has consolidated power so completely that nearly everyone else is marginalized.

[Jamal Khashoggi is dead. Read an update on what we know so far.]

The one person who could intervene is the king himself, but senior princes have found it nearly impossible to bring their concerns to the 82-year-old monarch, and some doubt he is fully aware of what is happening or willing to change course.

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Turkish investigators leaving the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Thursday. The Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared there Oct. 2.Credit...Ozan Kose/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“The king has no capacity to handle it,” said an employee of a senior prince, speaking on condition of anonymity, like others in this article, because of fear of repercussions.

Speaking of Crown Prince Mohammed, he said, “He is No. 1 and No. 2.”

Since the Saudi state was founded in 1932, the royal family has at times been torn by disagreements, even an assassination. But the thousands of princes and princesses who make up the House of Saud have ultimately found ways to preserve the dynasty. There was simply too much at stake to let family rifts get in the way of lavish lifestyles, exorbitant allowances and unrivaled privileges.

Then came Crown Prince Mohammed — young, brash and eager — who has systematically dismantled the system of consensus that kept the peace for decades.

With all the power in his hands, the crown prince also abandoned the traditional Saudi foreign policy style that used quiet, behind-the-scenes deal-making and checkbook diplomacy. Instead, he moved aggressively, launching a disastrous military intervention in Yemen; kidnapping the Lebanese prime minister; and rupturing relations with Qatar and Canada. Meanwhile, he marketed a new Saudi Arabia abroad in which a dynamic economy would boom and women would drive.

That pitch won over fans who saw him as exactly the kind of leader the kingdom needed to shake off its conservative past. Among those fans was the Trump administration, which made him the pillar of its Middle East policy.

But his rise irked many of his cousins, who now fear the worst as they helplessly watch the kingdom’s reputation become toxic.

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Protesters outside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.Credit...Ozan Kose/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Turkish officials have said a 15-member hit team from Saudi Arabia was waiting for Mr. Khashoggi and dismembered him in the consulate. It seems unlikely that such an operation could have been undertaken without the crown prince’s knowledge.

Such a prospect has created something the prince’s relatives thought they’d never see: a problem they cannot buy their way out of. And none appear willing or able to match the young prince’s Machiavellian tactics.

“They aren’t a particularly draconian bunch,” said another longtime associate of the royal family, describing the philosophy of some princes as, “We just want to eat burgers and go on foreign holidays.”

Associates of the royal family say that senior princes don’t have the access to King Salman that they had to previous kings, making it hard to voice concerns. Some princes cannot enter the royal court or the king’s palace unless their names have been placed at the door ahead of time, one member of the royal family complained.

Otherwise, they see the king at official events where it is considered bad form to raise thorny issues or they visit him at night when he is playing cards, also a bad time for serious talk.

At the same time, Prince Mohammed has been scrambling to mitigate the damage. One Western adviser said that even he had been taken aback by the outrage.

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Prince Mohammed, background, may have monopolized power so fully that there is almost no one left to challenge him.Credit...Fayez Nureldine/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“He was in real shock at the magnitude of the reaction,” the adviser said.

The palace turmoil has been reflected in Saudi Arabia’s shifting explanations for what happened to Mr. Khashoggi. For weeks, the government officials insisted that he had left the Istanbul consulate shortly after he arrived and that they had no idea of his whereabouts.

Early Saturday, the Saudi state-run news media said that Mr. Khashoggi had been killed in a fistfight in the consulate and that 18 unidentified Saudis were being held in connection with his death. It was the kingdom’s first admission that Mr. Khashoggi was dead.

The crown prince has steadfastly rejected the pleas of Wall Street executives to postpone an investor conference he is scheduled to host next week in Riyadh, even as one after another participant has canceled because of the scandal, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

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From Denials to Fistfights: How the Saudis’ Khashoggi Story Changed

Saudi Arabia now suggests that Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident journalist, was the victim of a premeditated killing at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. It’s the latest in a series of shifting explanations from the kingdom.

Outright denials. Botched interrogations. Fistfights. Ever since Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, the Kingdom has given all kinds of explanations about what happened and who is responsible. And then, in an early Saturday morning announcement, Saudi Arabia confirmed for the first time that Khashoggi is dead. They say he died after an argument and fistfight with unidentified men in the consulate. It’s the latest in a series of changing narratives from Saudi authorities. First, Saudi Arabia said Khashoggi left the consulate and expressed concern about his well-being. Government-aligned Turkish media said he was brutally murdered by 15 Saudi hitmen. They even released their names and images. Saudi Arabia then started pushing back. In two statements, it denounced “baseless allegations” and called them “lies.” As the accusations and evidence mounted, the Saudis started getting more forceful in their denials. And their messages took on a threatening tone. Like in this tweet from the Foreign Ministry, saying, “Demise is the outcome of these weak endeavors.” The tweet was mysteriously deleted the next day. “As of this moment, they deny it.” When Trump said there would be — “And there will be severe punishment.” Saudi Arabia lashed out, saying it rejected threats. More reports continued to come out. Some of them were grisly. “On the recordings, you can hear Khashoggi was ‘detained when he entered, killed and dismembered.’ One official saying, ‘You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and murdered.’” That’s when the Saudis seemed to be testing out an eyebrow-raising theory, and using President Trump to help sell it. “It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers — who knows?” Then, yet another twist. Sources close to Saudi Arabia started teasing the idea that, yes, Khashoggi was dead, but it was because of an interrogation gone wrong. But they also continued to maintain the king and crown prince had no knowledge of it. The Saudis say they’re investigating. And when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia, there were smiles and pleasantries. It looked like business as usual. But after the head-spinning stories about a suspected gory murder by a key U.S. ally, it was anything but.

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Saudi Arabia now suggests that Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident journalist, was the victim of a premeditated killing at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. It’s the latest in a series of shifting explanations from the kingdom.CreditCredit...Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Instead, the crown prince formed a crisis committee of representatives of the intelligence agencies, Foreign Ministry and security services to update him throughout the day on the latest in the Khashoggi scandal. He has recalled his younger brother, Prince Khalid bin Salman, the ambassador to Washington, accelerating plans to name him as a kind of national security adviser to bring order to what largely has been an ad hoc policy process.

The royal court has threatened to retaliate against any moves taken against the kingdom, suggesting it might use its influence on the oil markets as leverage over the global economy. One closely allied commentator suggested that sanctions against the kingdom could push it and the Muslim world “into the arms of Iran.”

The terse announcement early Saturday that Mr. Khashoggi died inside the consulate during a fight appeared to be part of a strategy of acknowledging his death but shifting the responsibility away from the crown prince.

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The Saudi General Taking the Fall in the Khashoggi Case

A Saudi official has said Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, a high-ranking adviser to the crown prince, organized the operation that killed the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

A Saudi official says this is the man who organized the operation that killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “The agreement that we have with our friends in Washington, that we will continue to work together for the stability of the region.” His name is Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri. He’s a top Saudi intelligence official and is close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “We are friends with all the countries, we never have dispute. And if we have one, we resolve it through the dialogue, through the international law.” The kingdom is said to have issued a general order to return dissidents who are living abroad. An official says that when the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul reported Khashoggi was coming in for an appointment, Assiri dispatched a team of 15 men to confront him. The official says the situation escalated, and Khashoggi was strangled to death in a chokehold. Assiri’s high-ranking position gave him easy access to the crown prince. Mohammed bin Salman himself promoted Assiri from his previous position as the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen. “We confirmed from Day One that we are working hard to avoid collateral damage.” The war in Yemen has killed thousands of civilians. But Assiri often appeared in Western media outlets fiercely defending his government’s conduct. “Are you violating the rules of war, international law?” “Let me, let me tell you something.” “You are conveying wrong information.” “No, let me, let me — do you doubt that picture?” “Where was it taken?” “I don’t care.” “You never be in Yemen. You never see. You don’t have any witnesses. And you tried to convey something wrong. And I try to correct this kind of picture.” In October, Saudi state media announced that General Assiri and other high-ranking officials had been dismissed. By pinning Khashoggi’s death on Assiri, the crown prince may be seeking to deflect blame from himself, even though American intelligence agencies are increasingly convinced he is behind Khashoggi’s death.

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A Saudi official has said Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, a high-ranking adviser to the crown prince, organized the operation that killed the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.CreditCredit...Hasan Jamali/Associated Press

Officials were known to have been weighing whether to blame Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, the deputy head of intelligence and a confidant of the young prince. People with knowledge of the plan said it would accuse General Assiri of having orchestrated a plot intended to capture Mr. Khashoggi but that it ultimately killed him — an explanation the Saudis hope will help shield the crown prince from further recriminations.

On Saturday, General Assiri was removed from his post, state media reported, along with at least three other high-level officials. It was not made clear whether the dismissals had any connection to the Khashoggi case.

While Saudi Arabia was traditionally ruled by senior princes who divided major portfolios and made big policy decisions by consensus under the king, many of those once-powerful princes have seen their power cut. Some have been removed from prominent posts. Others were locked in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton last year on accusations of corruption made by Crown Prince Mohammed. Still others and their families are banned from travel and too scared they might be arrested to speak up.

Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the previous crown prince and counterterrorism czar, remains under virtual house arrest. He, his wife and their two daughters found out earlier this year that their Saudi bank accounts had been drained, a relative said.

The sons of the former king, Abdullah, who died in 2015, have been neutralized. One was removed as the head of the National Guard, accused of corruption and stripped of assets, including the horse track he inherited from his father. His brother, a former governor of Riyadh, is detained, as is another son of another former king. Yet another brother is hiding out in Europe, scared that he could be kidnapped and sent home.

That leaves only the crown prince’s father, King Salman, to check his power.

“There is one person inside Saudi Arabia who can challenge Mohammed bin Salman, and it is the king,” said Joseph A. Kechichian, a scholar at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh.

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King Salman with Khalid al-Faisal, right. Prince Khalid is among few thought to have the influence that would be required to curb Prince Mohammed’s power.Credit...Saudi Royal Court, via Reuters

But the king must consider not only the stain of the Khashoggi issue on his son’s reputation, but also how to continue the reform program known as Vision 2030 that the crown prince has begun, Mr. Kechichian said.

Others question whether the king’s health allows him to grasp all that is happening.

“One worries about the mental state of King Salman,” said Madawi al-Rasheed, a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and author of many books on Saudi Arabia. “Is he really in a position to make these decisions at this late age?”

Removing such a powerful crown prince could prove hugely disruptive, and few princes would want the job with a resentful Mohammed bin Salman scheming against his replacement. But one Western diplomat with long experience in the kingdom suggested that the king might check the young prince by reducing his power, perhaps redistributing control of the security services to other respected princes.

“The brand has been irreparably tarnished — domestically they really do need to do something to rein M.B.S. in,” the diplomat said, referring to the crown prince by his initials. “They need to do something to corral him.”

One of the few with the stature to urge the king to make such a shift might be Prince Khalid, who flew to Ankara to see the Turks. A son of the late King Faisal and now governor of Mecca Province, Prince Khalid, 78, is esteemed in the family as measured and intelligent. That the king sent him on such a touchy mission indicates that he already has the monarch’s trust. His half brother, Prince Turki al-Faisal, was a longtime friend and patron of Mr. Khashoggi in the decades when he worked in the Saudi establishment before he turned critical of Crown Prince Mohammed.

Some foes of the crown prince have hoped for a challenge for the throne from the king’s brother, Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz. Prince Ahmed, 73, is the youngest of seven sons of the late King Abdulaziz who all shared the same mother, Hussa bint Ahmed al-Sudairi. The Sudairi seven, as they were known, formed a powerful bloc within the family and passed the throne from brother to brother — a pattern that might have extended to Prince Ahmed if King Salman had not redirected the line of succession to his own son.

So critics of Prince Mohammed were electrified last month when Prince Ahmed addressed protesters on the street in London who were chanting against the royal family over the war in Yemen.

“What does this have to do with the Al Saud?” Prince Ahmed said, in comments caught on video. “Those responsible are the king and his crown prince.”

When asked about the war in Yemen, he replied, “I hope the situation ends, whether in Yemen or elsewhere, today before tomorrow.”

On the internet, critics of the crown prince posted oaths of loyalty to Prince Ahmed, but his turn as an opposition leader did not last long. He soon issued a statement saying his comment had been misinterpreted. He remains in London, afraid to return home.

Ben Hubbard reported from Beirut, and David D. Kirkpatrick from Istanbul. Karam Shoumali contributed reporting from Berlin.

Follow Ben Hubbard on Twitter at @NYTBen.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: For Royal Family, Unease Over Direction of Country Under Crown Prince. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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